WAYNE ROONEY ON THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

So, English teams have faired brilliantly this season in the Champions League. Do you think English teams have become technically better in the Champions League in recent years do they have more of what it takes.

Yeah I think they are stronger really. You always want an English team to win the Champions League and always look really strong, organised and difficult to beat, and I think that’s shown the last few years in the Champions League.Ä‚€š' Hopefully this year there’ll be a few English teams in the last four.

Did the defeat in Rome provide added motivation for this year’s Champions League?

Not really no. You go in every season and you want to win the champions league and play in it, so I don’t think you can be more motivated because of defeat. Probably winning it motivates me more to try and get me there again, and the feeling of winning is a very special one.

You never played with David Beckham but obviously he is coming back again in the Champions League. What kind of reception do you think he will get? And what will it be like playing against him?

Yeah I think – I hope – he will get a brilliant reception. When he was at United over the years he was just brilliant. So we want to give him a big reception and it will be nice to play against him. I played against him once or twice before when I was at Everton and it will be nice to play against him against in such a big game.

And in the upcoming game against Milan, who are the players in their squad that you respect, or would like to play against?

Seedorf – to me he’s probably the best player I’ve played against; When we played them a few year’s ago at the San Siro he was just unbelievable. Obviously then there’s Pirlo, Becks, they’ve got some great players so we need to be on our best to beat them.

You’ve appeared with Ronaldinho in a few Nike ads, when he’s on form is he a special player to play against?

He’s unbelievable – I’ve seen recently he got player of the decade, that goes to show the talent he is. They’ve got players who can score goals from set pieces and free kicks, so we’ve got to be aware of that.